The Secret Garden
by HeartofFire-SoulofWater
Summary: When her mother dies, Katara inherits a secret, mystical garden that brings her more happiness, tears, confusion and understanding than she ever expected, and maybe even... love? Zutara! Rated T for possible, future chapters.
1. Prologue

DESCRIPTION: Katara finally finds her Mother's Secret Garden(it's a MAGIC garden!!), and Zuko stumbles upon it, also! Will true love ensue? ZUTARA! READ PLEASE!!! Z/K

PROLOGUE:

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters.

O.K., so here's the deal: All the characters are themselves, the war still isn't over yet, and this story is starting out with Aang, Sokka, and Katara in the in Ba Sing Se looking for Appa, just like in the latest episodes. Sokka and Katara are still from the Southern Water Tribe, but when Katara was born her mother and father moved the family to the Ba Sing Se since they thought they would be safer from the war in the Earth Kingdom.

It was midnight, and Katara had snuck away from camp and was in the forest that led to her Mother's Secret Garden. She had been looking for something, but wasn't sure what. Finally, she seemed to reach whatever it was that she was trying to find. She was at the bottom of a cliff, and underneath the cliff was a cave. She looked around to make sure no one was watching her. Satisfied that she was alone, she entered the cave and heard the gentle whisper of a small rivulet. Katara closed her eyes as memories came flooding back to her.

"_But Mother, why must I close my eyes?"_

_  
"Because, little one, you cannot see it until you are ready. Once you are old enough, you will find the way on your own."_

_  
"But I don't understand…"_

_  
"Hush, you will in time."_

_The young Katara sighed as her mother led her, blindfolded, to a place that she had never been to before. She heard the rush of a river nearby, and promised herself she would never forget that sound._

"_Open your eyes now, child."_

_  
Little Katara gasped as she looked around. They were in a beautiful garden, bigger than any she had ever seen. The sunlight shone through a canopy of trees, causing the river to sparkle brightly and seem to send off a magical aura. It was the clearest water in the entire world! At the end of the river was a medium-sized waterfall, which she longed to play in. There were countless amounts of flowers, mostly tiger lilies; her mother's favorite, that were covering the walls of stone and resting elsewhere throughout the garden. There was also a long walkway that was made of dirt and stone, which wound its way through the entire garden. Following this path would lead one to several secret passageways. There were too many of these passageways for one person to go through in a lifetime._

_  
If Katara was quiet, she thought she could hear bells in the distance, and children giggling merrily._

_  
"Mother, who is that laughing?"_

_  
"Those are the faeries."_

_  
"Faeries? Will they come and play with me?"_

_  
"They might, but they come and go as they please. If you want them to come to you, you have to be quieter than the wind, close your eyes, and wait and listen for them. Sometimes they may come, sometimes they may not. They only come if they have a reason."_

_  
"But what about the bells?"_

_  
"Those are their wings. When they fly, they sound like small bells."  
"Can I ask them to come now?"_

_  
"No, Katara, I've brought you here for a reason. You can play with the faeries another time."_

_Katara crossed her arms and made a "hmph" sound._

"_Listen, for this is important. As you probably know, I've been rather ill lately. I may not be around much longer, Katara. Shh, don't cry now." Her mother soothed her as she saw Katara's eyes get watery, "I'll always be with you; you just won't be able to see me any longer."_

_  
"Will I be able to hear you?"_

_  
"Well, it's kind of like with the faeries. You have to be silent, close your eyes, and wait and listen._

_Katara nodded silently._

"_But I have to tell you why you're here with me. See this garden? One day it will be yours. When I leave this world everything you see here will belong to you. Katara, I can tell that you will do far greater things than you know. You have a purpose and a duty here on this earth, and it is up to you to find out what it is."_

_  
"But how will I know?" she sniffed._

_  
"Just like with the garden, you will find your way by instinct. You don't need to worry about finding the way, but instead about what you're going to do once you get there."  
"Mother, you're not making sense!"_

_  
"Remember my words, and you will understand in time."_

Katara had searched for her Mother's Garden ever since that day, but had not even gotten close until now. Well, she supposed it was her garden now, since her mother had passed away years ago. Now, as she entered this cave and heard the rushing river, she was almost certain that it was that same sound she had promised herself she would not forget, so many years ago.

Katara had closed her eyes and let her feet take her where they wished, for they seemed to know what they were doing.

"_Once you are old enough, you will find the way on your own."_

After walking deeper into the cave for several minutes, the sound of the river was finally at its loudest, and she could see the blue of the water from where she was standing. Katara sprinted to the river and nearly jumped in out of excitement.

_This is it, _She thought, _this is the garden!_

But now that she was at the river, Katara didn't know what to do next. There was no door for her to enter, no window for her to crawl through, nothing. She sighed and sat down in frustration, trying to think.

_What to do, what to do…_she idly bended some water from the river while she pondered about her next step in reaching the garden. Katara looked up at the water she had been bending, and noticed that she had formed a strange symbol.

_Is that the symbol of Water?_

She looked up and noticed the same symbol carved into the wall behind the river.

_How did I not see that before?!_

Katara looked at the wall, and back at the bended water. Then back at the wall, and the water, again.

_No, it couldn't be. Well, we did always stay here at the river longer than I thought normal. Maybe it _can_ be._

She bended the water forward, and placed it so that it fit into the carving on the wall. As soon as the water touched the stone, it began to glow, along with the river below it. Slowly, the river split in half, revealing a cavern below it. Amazed, Katara walked down the stone steps leading into it, and the water closed behind her and seemed to rest on an invisible force field so that it wouldn't fall into the cavern. She remembered walking down steps when her mother had led her here before.

_This is definitely the place._

Small windows were carved into the walls, revealing the same glowing water of the river above, and Katara cautiously reached out to touch the water, but it pulled back, just out of her reach. Confused, she continued on, and noticed small blue candles lighting the way. She followed the candles to a dead end, and noticed the Water Symbol on the wall before her. Bending some of the water through the windows, she made the symbol, and placed it into the carving on the wall, as she had before.

_Maybe the water hasn't been touched by human hands. That's why it'll let me bend it but not touch it, so that it can stay pure._

_  
_The stone wall before her seemed to disappear and another set of steps was revealed, with water being held up by what seemed to be an invisible force field above the steps, like before. She bended this water so that it split down the middle, and walked up the steps and into the moonlight.

Katara looked around and almost cried as she realized that she was actually in what was now _her_ garden. The light of the full moon made it so much prettier.

_Thank you, Yue._

_  
_As memories of her mother came back, she closed her eyes and one small tear ran down her cheek. As she heard those same bells and the same gentle laughter, another memory came back to her:

"_Faeries? Will they come and play with me?"_

_  
"They might; they come and go as they please. If you want them to come to you, you have to be quieter than the wind, close your eyes, and wait and listen for them. Sometimes they may come, sometimes they may not. They only come if they have a reason."_

_  
"And what about the bells?"_

_  
"Those are their wings. When they fly, they sound like small bells."_

_  
"Can I ask them to come now?"_

_  
_Katara closed her eyes and was as still as she thought humanly possible, and she listened. A gentle breeze blew through her hair, and she thought she heard a gentle whisper in her ears: _"Yes, Katara, you can ask them to come now."_

_  
_"Mother?" she asked. The voice was so quiet she wasn't positive whether she'd actually heard it, or just imagined it.

_"Mother? Was that you?" _she thought.

"KATARA!!" Sokka yelled, "WHERE ARE YOU?!?!"

_Ohhh, not now Sokka!_

"Who does she think she is, sneaking away from camp like an irresponsible little kid!"

"I'm right here, Sokka!"

"Where have you been?!" Sokka fumed.

"Uhhm… I couldn't sleep; it's a full moon, and I _am_ a Waterbender, so I went on a little walk."

Sokka glared at her. "I don't believe one word of that, but it's too late, err… early, for me to sort this out. As soon as I get enough sleep you are gonna get it!"

"Yeah, yeah, Sokka."

"I mean it!"

Katara didn't let it bother her, she was too busy etching the way to the garden in her mind. He'd probably forget by the morning, anyway. Sokka led her back to camp and made her promise not to sneak away again. Aang sat up, not knowing either of them had even left.

"What's going on?" he mumbled groggily.

"Don't worry about it, Aang." Katara answered, "Just go back to sleep."

"Mmkay." He said as he got back under his covers and closed his eyes.

Katara definitely couldn't sleep, not now that she'd found what she'd been searching for all her life. Well, she'd have to go back in the morning.


	2. Dancing

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters.**

**Sorry I haven't updated in like a week, I was going to put this up the very next day, but, of course my computer breaks down.**

**I forgot to mention it, but we'll say this takes place just before the episode where Zuko goes on a date with what's-her-name. The trio is in the house they were given just like in the show, as they wait to see the King. If you like, you can imagine Zuko still has his ponytail-cuz we all know he was hotter that way!!  
**

CHAPTER ONE:

"Come now, Prince Zuko, don't you want to brush up on your moves in case your date asks you to dance?" Iroh begged his nephew.

"No."

"It will be fuuun!"

"No."

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"Will it make you shut up?"

"Will you promise to put some effort into it?"

"Sure."

"Oh, thank you, nephew! I'm sure your going to have a wonderful time!"

"Whatever."

So here Zuko was, in the middle of the forest, walking around trying to find a place where he could practice his dancing alone. He stumbled across a small clearing, with a circle made of marble in the middle of it.

"_What's this?" _He thought as he knelt down beside it to examine it.

The marble had engravings on it; they were of the four different elements; one quarter of the circle dedicated to each one. Zuko stood up and notice tiger lilies grew just around the outside of the circle, so that Zuko had to step over them to get inside. He knelt down again and noticed another smaller circle in the middle of the larger one. Inside this circle was a pool of water, that seemed to be running even though there was no where to go. It was clearer than any water he had ever seen, and had a mysterious glow to it. Zuko blinked in shock as he saw a picture begin to appear on the surface of the water. It was of two people, one who looked to be from the Fire Nation, and one from the Water Tribes; they were dancing, in a beautiful garden that also had tiger lilies throughout it.

Still in a daze, Prince Zuko stood up and noticed something around the edge of the larger circle. There were words written on the marble, an ancient prophesy that all the peasant Earth peoples knew about, but few ever spoke of.

_Only a love both honest and true,_

_May conquer the evil so ancient, so new._

_As they fight to uncover what secrets they share,_

_And see in their journey how painful is care._

_Only with this will the war come to an end,_

_To show that true love has no end._

Zuko read the words aloud as he walked around the circle. A strange idea came to him… maybe he should dance _here_, on this magical circle of marble. Well, it was worth a shot, and what did he have to lose?

So he began his dance (feeling rather akward, needless to say), starting with a traditional Fire Nation dance he had learned when he was a young boy. But as he stepped onto the part of the circle dedicated to Fire, the Fire Insignia lit up, and the floor gave way and split in two, causing Zuko to drop through. He tried to grasp the edge of the wall, but his fingers slipped and he fell, for what seemed like forever, and finally landed in a cavern much like the one Katara had been in.

"Where am I?"

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It was early in the morning and Katara had just fallen asleep a few hours ago, after thinking about the garden all night.

"Katara!"

"Mmgmhhmgm." she grumbled angrily at him. How dare he wake her up? She had barely gotten any sleep at all!

"What?"

"I'm asleeeep, go awayyyy."

"You're obviously not asleep if you're talking to me."

"I'm sleep talking. Now leave me alone."

"Katara, I'm serious. Wake up."

_Sokka… serious? Hah, as if that's possible._

"FINE! What do you want?" She sat up angrily.

"Geez, someone's a little grumpy, today. Anyway, I'm going into town to buy some food, I'll be back about around noon, OK?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." she sighed.

Katara couldn't go back to sleep now that her brother had woken her up, so she figured she'd go ahead and get to the garden before he got back and went on another rampage. She packed some food, though she doubted she'd need it; there was plenty of fruit in the garden, her waterskin, and a knife, just to be safe.

This time she found her way to the cave below the cliff with ease. Entering it, she found the river and bended the water as she had before. She followed the same routine as yesterday and entered the garden with a happy sigh. This was her favorite place in the world when she was little, and she had missed coming here. Of course, she had always had her mother with her, and it did bring back some sad memories. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful place and Katara loved it.

Gazing around her, she didn't know what to do first. She could swim in the crystal clear river while practicing her bending, pick some fruit from the trees, go on a walk on the pathway to see where some of the secret passageways led, or just sit here and enjoy how beautiful and relaxing it was in her garden. She decided she'd do all of it.

Katara dipped her toe in the river, discovering it was cool and refreshing, and took off her parka so that she was wearing only her undergarments. Stepping completely in, she bended the water into several shapes, the symbol of water she had made earlier being one of them. As she looked into the water she noticed it was rippling oddly, and an image appeared on the surface and Katara nearly jumped out of the river in shock.

"_What the…what IS that?"_ she thought.

A closer look revealed to Katara that it was two people, a man clad in Fire Nation attire, and a woman in Water Tribe attire. They were dancing… here, in her garden.

"_Why would the river want me to see this? Maybe it's from the past… or maybe it's the future…"_

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Zuko stood up abruptly and rubbed his bottom, which was rather sore from the fall. As he looked around he noticed that he was in a long hallway of stone, much like a cave, with windows lining the walls. Inside these windows were red candles, glowing brightly. They were so bright he could barely look at them. He continued on down the hall and came to a dead end, with more candles and the Fire Nation insignia on the wall. Absent-mindedly, he touched the symbol and the wall moved to the side, revealing a set of stairs.

Climbing up these stairs, Prince Zuko's eyes widened as he took in what was before him. It was a small garden, just like the ones in the palace back home, with all sorts of Fire Nation plants and flowers, and a Fire Nation-style gazebo in the middle of it. He followed a long pathway that started at the little gazebo, and noticed several other pathways, but decided to stay on the main one.

After almost an hour of walking, Zuko was getting ready to turn back, but he realized that he had come to what seemed to be the main portion of this mysterious garden. What stopped the Prince dead in his tracks was what, err… who, he saw in the river in this garden, staring intently into the water.

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Katara blinked as the image in the river floated away and down the waterfall, disappearing as it crashed over the edge. Maybe she would come to understand the image in time. She stepped out of the river and began to bend the water out of clothes when she heard a rustling from the bushes just up ahead.

"Who's there?" she asked, trying to cover the fear in her voice. There was no way she was going to let some stupid trespasser intimidate her. This was _her _garden, _her _territory.

Prince Zuko figured there was no way he could stay hidden forever, but he wasn't exactly excited about letting the Water Tribe girl(What was her name? Kata? Katava? Kathera?) know he was there. He definitely wasn't up for a fight after walking for over an hour and he could tell by the look in her eyes that she definitely _was _up for one. Well, he'd have to get it over with eventually.

So, Zuko stood up, in plain sight. The look on Katara's face was almost priceless when it registered who was standing before her. He saw her expression change from shock to anger to frustration to confusion and back to just plain shock.

"Prince Zuko?"

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**Poem borrowed from the book The Sight, by David Clement-Davies, but I changed the words a bit. It's an excellent book; I suggest anyone who enjoys fiction reads it. Let me just point out that if you're reading a story from you probably like fiction. Just a theory, though**.

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter! **

**R**

**E**

**V**

**I**

**E**

**W,**

**PLEEEEEASE!!!!!**


	3. Prince Zuko is an idiot!

**OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY GOSSSSHHHH.  
I CANNOT FREAKING BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!  
DID YALL SEE THE SEASON FINALE? CUZ I DID!! AND IT WAS INSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
THERE HAS NEVER BEEN AN EPISODE OR FINALE OF AVATAR THAT FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

But I cannot effing BELIEVE ZUKO!!!!!!! HES SUCH A BASTARD!!!!!!!!!!!!! UNCLE IROH DID EVERYTHING FOR HIM THAT HIS FATHER AND SISTER DIDN'T AND THEN HE GOES OFF AND BETRAYS HIM FOR THOSE TWO?!?!?!?!?  
WHAT THE F IS WRONG WITH HIM?????  
All I can say is pyschological problems(insanity, anger management, stupidity... the list goes on & on...) must run in the family, and Iroh was the only one lucky enough to escape them.  
I HATE ZUKO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**I'm sorry yall, but I can NOT continue with this story after seeing the finale, I am just WAY too mad!!! Here I was thinking there was actually gonna be some Zutaraness, but NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! It only lasted like THREE SECONDS!!!!!!!!**

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**I HATE THE WORLD!!! Or at least I will for a week or so, then I'll get over it and write the rest of this story.**

**Sorry about the wait. I really would write if I could, but it just won't be any good.**

**Until then... KILL ZUKO!!! Either that, or FORCE him to be good. And fall in love with Katara. But Katara has to slap him at least once to get back at him. Water-slap him, that is.**

UGH.


	4. Replies to reviews, not another chapter

**Ahhh, happy sigh, I love readers, and I love reviewers even more.**

**You guys made me soo happy, I had no idea I had more than like 3 readers, why didn't you review the last chapters?!?! LOL.**

**I have 14 reviews. FOURTEEN!! That's a lot for me, LOL!**

**So here's the replies to everything: **

**Raidon Phantom: haha let's try not to blow up TOO much, although I'll admit, I did set off a few explosives myself... ;)**

**Aries Cross: Thanks, I sure hope so! **

**Brookgavin: Yeah I was thinking that too, I was just so angry I couldn't think straight. You just reminded me of that possibility. Like when he said "I have changed." I was like DOES THAT MEAN SOMETHING?! IS HE GONNA TRICK AZULA?!?! OHHHHHHHH I HOPE SO!!!!!!!!!**

**The Great Silver Sharpie: I know, when Aang got hit with the lightning by Azula, I was like AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY CAN'T CALL THE SHOW AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER IF THERE IS NOT AVATAR WHO IS THE LAST AIRBENDER!!!!! So then when Katara took him up the waterfall & I remembered she still had the magic water (& didn't waste it on healing Zuko's scar-it's too sexy, we should at least have it for a little while longer!!) I was like YES! HE'S GONNA LIVE!**

**Annoying-little-girl: ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!?!?!? AN EPISODE CALLED ZUTARA?!?!? ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!? ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!? ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!? ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!? ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!? ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!? ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!? ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!?ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!?**

**I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!**

**WHO TOLD YOU THAT?!?!?!?! HOW DO YOU KNOW?!?!?!?!? **

**How long until next season??????????????????? whines**

**nightwish635: Haha yeah technically he's 112, but he's still got the maturity level of a 12-year-old. I always thought that was weird that they would put those two together, girls date up, but guys don't! That's like dating my little brother. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Anyways, yeah Toph WAS SOO EFFING BADASS!!! And Zuko WAS way stronger!! It was AWESOME!**

**cayavatar: Hey, now, look on the bright side fo things. Zuko could've been tricking them, there's supposed to be an episode named "Zutara" in the future, and at least we had those 3 seconds of Zutaraness!! Other than the lack of Zutara and Zuko's stupidity(or at least we're supposed to think he's stupid), the season finale was effing awesome!!!**

**iceprincessrules: Haha yeah, I thought that, too! Some is always better than none. We don't necessarily have to kill the kataangs and jinkos(who are jinkos?), just lock them up in cells until they promise to shutup about kataang. Cuz we hate it. AND WE ARE WINNING THIS ****BATTLE**

**Fistomon: That's good, now we have a whole group of people like us! **

**Also, Zuko is MUCH sexier with his scar!! I HOPE KATARA NEVER HEALS IT!! I mean, I could deal if they did take it away, cuz his hair is pretty hott now (although I loved the ponytail) cuz it's long & over his eyebrows, but I prefer him with it. What do yall think?**

I'm gonna start working on another chapter, and see if I can let go of my anger towards Zuko for a little bit, and I'll see how it comes out. I don't want to put it up if it's not the best I can make it, though. So wait longer and have a better chapter, and wait less time and have a horrible chapter... yeah, that's what I thought! 

**LOL, love yall, and again, thanks soo much for the reviews. You made my week.**

**HoFSoW**


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